you're always up to no good
Saw PoA again, and you know, i think i liked it even better this time. The first two movies got a bit boring to me on subsequent viewings, like you could really feeeel how long they were (not that they were THAT BAD, i just don't think they had as many sheerly enjoyable moments), but this one was immensely entertaining all over again. It's SO GORGEOUS, i seriously cannot get over it. The whole time i was thinking "WANT THE DVD. Oooh, look at that, i can't wait to cap that. Ooh, i want that shot, too. GIMME GIMME" etc etc.

I really, really adore the music. I don't have the soundtrack so i have no idea what the songs are, so i'm just going to say the moments that i love. When Aunt Marge is floating away, you know, the end of the blowing-up sequence, it's very light-hearted and pomp-y and stuff and i like it. Double Double Toil and Trouble, of course, i've loved since that damn fucking awesome best trailer ever came out- it gives me goosebumps. The place it's at in the movie, before they show the choir and it's outside and rainy as the carriages are going up to the school, it fits SO beautifully. I looooooove the drums as Buckbeak is galloping to take off, that part is SO COOL. I mean, it just kicks ass. And Lupin's swing music during the boggart lesson. And the harpsichord music that's throughout- i wanna say it's vaguely creepy, but it's not really. It just gives this dark, cool, old-fashioned feel.

Actually, i thought of that the first time, and i was reminded of it again, the old-fashioned stylistic stuff that's in there. The harpsichord music especially, but also the iris transitions, you know, the circular fades between a lot of the scenes, it's like a silent movie or when you switch off an old black and white tv. They're really very, very cool, they give this sense of time slowing down or falling in and out of consciousness (which is, of course, mostly when they're used). I love that it's kind of old-fashioned like that, because that's always how HP has felt when i've read it. I mean, obviously the wizarding world is different, with the candles and owls and castles and things, but even the muggle world outside, i've always thought of it as an amalgamation of modern and old styles, technological but retro. Actually, i think of A Series of Unfortunate Events in the same way, probably even moreso than HP- like it's current, but in an alternate universe where everything is stylistically old. I'm not sure if that makes sense.

Anyway, i am still in LOVE with the style of the film (if all this talk about style didn't tip you off). Everything is so dreary, dark and rainy and overcast and British, and i just adore it to bits and pieces. When the train is stopped on the bridge and the compartment lights go off, the quidditch in the rain (LOVEITSOMUCH), Hagrid telling the kids about the trial while skipping stones, the scenes around Buckbeak's execution with the cloudy sky and the crows (and when Macnair is sharpening the axe- SO creepy), GAAAH. The greens and blues and greys are everywhere, and it's sooooo preeeeeeeetty. I just love how it really does reflect the darkness of the story, the sadness and maturity and heightening danger.

Still loved, uhm, everything i loved last time. There are so many brilliant shots, like the beginning of the boggart lesson when it goes through the mirror in the wardrobe, the close-up of the freezing flowers as the dementor passes by, going through the gears of the clocktower all the way down to Harry and Hermione running through the courtyard after they've gone back in time (loveloveLOVE that, there's so much urgency to it). The very beginning with Harry and his wand under the sheets (dirty!) is so simple, but it's such a perfect little intro, AND it's pretty. I like when the kids are leaving for Hogsmeade the first time, and Hermione and Ron are the last ones to leave and Hermione gives Harry a sad little wave, that's so cute. I really love Lupin's "you're more like them than you know", that line sort of got me choked up. Very sad. And when Sirius says "the ones we love never really leave us", because it applies to HIM too, and that was fucking depressing. Really, all the Sirius stuff just makes me horribly sad in light of OotP.

Oh, i saw Sir Cadogan in the background this time! I hadn't noticed him before, but he's actually in it a lot, jumping around and wielding his sword and being a spaz like he is in the book. And i saw the makeout feet in the credits, BWAH. Hey, in the boggart lesson, how is Parvati's SCARY HORRIBLE JACK-IN-THE-BOX CLOWN OF DEATH less frightening than the giant snake? I'd just like to know. 'Cause the snake? Way less scary.

While my problems with the film aren't... really... problems anymore, one thing that does still bug me is how much Hermione interferes when they go back in time, considering she's the one who stresses how you're NOT supposed to interfere. The rock-throwing, the fake howl- i guess maybe they wanted more to intertwine the two stories, but i always liked how little they changed in the book, how Harry's patronus was the only wholly obvious way they had interfered with the past and it's so cool the way that happens. Another minor, miiiiinor thing that i prefer in the book is when they're leaving Hagrid's hut and Buckbeak is executed. While i adore the threesome hug (wheeeee!), they don't stop to watch, they're running back toward the school and telling each other not to listen, and then they hear the axe fall. It's just a small change, but i really love how that scene is written. Ah well.

Oh, and Thewlis isn't Lupin to me. Oldman isn't really Sirius, either. They're fine, and i like them well enough, but they're much different in my head. Some of the characters have become the movie versions for me, or i can't remember how i used to imagine them or whatever. Like, i think Harry is mostly still my version when i read, but he's also too easy to envision as Dan now. Some of them i imagined completely differently before the movies, and then the movies changed that. See, i have this habit of completely ignoring physical descriptions sometimes and just going with whatever i want, thus, in my mind, McGonagall used to be short and fat, Snape looked like Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Dumbledore was, inexplicably, bald and wearing a suit. No, i'm serious. (I really have NO idea how i got that image of Dumbledore.) But now, i think the movie versions have pretty much taken over and i imagine them how they're supposed to look (Alan Rickman IS Snape, dude). And soooooome of the movie versions ended up looking just like i imagined them, like Draco and Hermione, so that's not really a problem. And still OTHERS i continue to imagine as my own versions when i read. So i think Lupin and Sirius fall into that last category. I kind of just realized my version of Lupin looks rather like Colin Firth, a little bit. Extremely kind-looking, you know? And pretty. Very, very pretty. But hey! That just means the movie doesn't completely represent the book for me, which it didn't anyway. It's just one interpretation. Quite enjoyable to watch, but a single interpretation nonetheless.

Am also becoming more and more enamored with Dan's prettiness. Still obsessed with Harry's racing striped jacket, and messy hair, and i quite like the moment when he lays on the bed and takes off his shoe to catch the Monster Book of Monsters. Ohmygod, i'm a dirty old lady! He's the same age as my little brother, EW EW EW!! .............. But he's pretty and i like him!